Direct TV

I live in Houston and have it. Just about every over-the-air Rangers game is shown on the alternative FSSW channel (667), along with all the FSSW games that aren’t on the primary FSSW channel.

You have occasional disruptions during really bad storms, but it generally isn’t a huge issue. And the HD channels are good.

I don’t know the costs of the various packages—you’d have to check their website.

If you decide to do it, if you send me an email, I’ll send you a “refer a friend” offer that will get you a discount (and me, of course).

Looks like “choice” or above is what it takes to get your local FSN affiliate.

The downside for me… I’m about 200 miles from LA, but still within the LA TV market for sports purposes. So my “local” teams are the Angels and Dodgers. So when those are on FSN West (Angels) and FSN Prime Ticket (Dodgers), that’s who I see. But when they’re on KCOP or KCAL, I’m not close enough to LA for those to be considered my “local channels” so I can’t see the game on those channels. But since I’m still within the LA TV area, I can’t watch the feed of whoever is playing the Angels or Dodgers on my sports package that gives me all the FSN channels because of the MLB blackout rules. So if the Rangers play the Angels and FSN West doesn’t have the game, because of where I live, I’m expected to watch the Angels feed and am blacked out of FSN Southwest, but I can’t watch the Angels’ feed because it’s on a channel DirecTV won’t give me. It gets better: I also can’t watch it on mlb.tv because based on my zip code, I’m also blacked out of those games because I’m expected to watch it on the channel I don’t get. I’m seriously considering dropping the FSN package, since I’m blacked out of non-local games on it… but the package also has other sports channels that have allowed me to catch several Fresno State football games I wouldn’t otherwise see.

On the upside… when I signed up, they gave me three free months of HBO, Showtime and Cinemax. After three months, instead of upping my bill a bunch, they shut off the channels and kept my bill the same. That was a pleasant surprise. As for storms… I had one really, really violent storm come through this winter and I had one or two instances of the picture freezing for a second. The bigger problem was that where the guy installed it, the wood on the fascia was starting to rot, so the dish was starting to pull out (the HD dish is big and heavy). I also think that had something to do with those second-long rain fades. I eventually re-aimed the dish myself and had no problems until I moved, and the dish hasn’t had any problems since I moved.

My bill comes out to about $77 each month, for the Choice XTRA package with HD access, the FSN package and standard-definition tuner boxes for the computer room and the bedroom in addition to the main one in the living room.

For the discount… I’m a low-paid journalist at a small paper making less than a Customer Service Manager at Wal-Mart makes, while Adam is a lawyer. Who do you think needs the discount more? ;)

And I could count on 1 hand how many times it happened at all.

Non-factor.

just switched from Comcast, which was almost twice as much, and they wouldn’t even offer me a baseball package because I live in a non-MLB market.

I haven’t had any issues with losing the signal or anything like that yet either. It is much better watching the games on TV rather than by little 21” monitor with a crappy picture.

don’t like DirecTV is during a heavy rain or thunderstorm. The thick clouds will block the satellite signal.

is anyone in the washington DC metro area? baltimore? NoVA?

I REALLY REALLY REALLY wish I could set the channel guide to only show me channels I actually get. It’s really annoying choosing a program only to get “channel not purchased.”

My 12 month promo rate ended with Charter last month which boosted our bill by quite a bit now. However, I’m moving toward the end of the year and likely won’t be living with a roommate at that time, so I think we’re just sucking it up til the move for the next 6 months or so since otherwise I’d end up with extra receivers or just a package that may not suit just me as compared to both myself and my roommate.

Anyone know what kind of discount those links give you? I know if you sign up for the service online they seem to be giving $23 off for 12 months.